Starlink

[RedNeckGeek]

While I agree that a smartphone is more versatile than a landline, the audio quality of them is atrocious. Wife has a (fairly new) I-phone and unless she has a really strong signal, calls are garbled, full of minor little dropouts/glitches, all of which makes intelligibility go right down the dumper.

It all comes down to signal quality. Cellular service here has never been very good, but with the rollout of 5G, Verizon engineers are also tuning up the 4G antennas, and for the first time I've been able to get a cellular signal inside the house here. When I'm speaking to someone else also using a cell phone, the voice quality is very much like being in the same room with them. Most of the time. There are times when I can't even place a call, or incoming calls go direct to voicemail becaue they never even ring. Other times, like you I get little dropouts and I have to ask someone to "say again", or it sounds like they're talking with a mouth full of marbles. I'm a long way from the closest tower, and my weak signal is often dropped when congestion is high. The land line, on the other hand, always works, at least when a wildfire hasn't burned down the wires or a power shutoff hasn't put the radio relay stations out of business. Yes, just because it's called a land line doesn't mean that the phone company hasn't substitted radio relays for long runs of copper in remote locations. Most have battery or generator backups, but when the power outage lasts multiple days, those relays go down and they take the "land line" with them.

 

[Wakey]

While I agree that a smartphone is more versatile than a landline, the audio quality of them is atrocious. Wife has a (fairly new) I-phone and unless she has a really strong signal, calls are garbled, full of minor little dropouts/glitches, all of which makes intelligibility go right down the dumper.

This thread is going in a bunch of different directions so I don’t remember if you were able to use Wi-Fi assist on your cell phone?

For about the past year and a half, it’s the first time since the early 90s that my cell phone was so clear. Like the previous poster said, at times it sounds like you’re in the same room with the caller.

 

[Oaktree]

Yes, just because it's called a land line doesn't mean that the phone company hasn't substitted radio relays for long runs of copper in remote locations. Most have battery or generator backups, but when the power outage lasts multiple days, those relays go down and they take the "land line" with them.

Yeah, and copper may or may not be a big part of the circuit either. My "landline" is thru the cable company and uses their VOIP box. It's fiber to a box on a pole about 1/2 mi. from the house, and coax from there. Even if you still have a phone thru a traditional phone company, anything beyond the proverbial "last mile" is also VOIP over fiber.
Even 60 years ago Ma Bell used microwave links.

 

[JasperFrank]

So Elon say's he will no longer support Starlink in the Ukraine, unless the US government picks up the tab? Huh?......

 

[cqaigy2]

So Elon say's he will no longer support Starlink in the Ukraine, unless the US government picks up the tab? Huh?......

What makes you say that?

 

[JasperFrank]

Heard it on NPR. Read it here. https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/13/politics/elon-musk-spacex-starlink-ukraine

 

[ponytug]

So Elon say's he will no longer support Starlink in the Ukraine, unless the US government picks up the tab? Huh?......

He suggested that the Ukrainians concede territory and agree to neutrality amongst other things, which went over like a lead balloon with the Ukrainians.

Elon has been more erratic than usual lately, in case you hadn't noticed...

 

[JasperFrank]

i don't personally care what Elon does, so long as it doesn't cost ME money. Oh,... wait,... that ship sailed already.

 

[NHBX]

He needs the extra cash to help fund twitter purchase.

 

[kf4uda]

I have been using the “best effort” service now for 2 weeks. It is a keeper for me. I have seen speed tests anywhere from 109 down to single digits. Even in the single digits I have seen very little buffering while streaming. I have downloaded/uploaded files as large as 1.5GB with no problem. Uploading that size file has taken as long as an hour but completed without interruption.

This service shines compared to the Wi-Fi service I had. I was constantly having problems with it. Hopefully Starlink will continue to improve over time.